Publishing Books with Students
This past Monday I heard Kwame Alexander, who is a poet (He trained with Nikki Giovanni at Virgina Tech!), author, and founder of Book-in-a-Day, speak at the KSRA Conference in Hershey, PA. My… Read More
Monthly Archive: October, 2009
I {Heart} Comments
From time to time, I use this blog to sort out ideas I’m wrestling with. I must admit this puts me in a vulnerable place. Such was the case with Monday’s posts. Audience —… Read More
SOLSC Meets Picture Book Illustrators
KSRA Authors Tea Mug & Chocolate (er, what’s left of the chocolate) Originally uploaded by teachergal When I received the registration form for the KSRA Conference, I did something I don’t usually do.… Read More
Join Us for Today’s Slice of Life Challenge!
Please link your Slice of Life Story to this post by leaving a comment.
Motivation (Part II).
This finally led me to thinking about my high school art classes. I was in the Honors Art Course and for me it was tough to get into. I worked even harder to… Read More
Motivation (Part I)
Last week I was in a history class. It was the teacher’s prep, but there were students working to put final touches on their presentations which were due later in the day. Out of the blue,… Read More
Encouraging Revision
Revision is one of my favorite parts of the writing process to teach. I enjoy figuring out ways to encourage writers to make significant revisions. It seems so often our students revise just… Read More
Making Students Feel Valued.
This morning as I was listening to the radio on my way to school, they were asking little kids to respond to the question: How do you know someone loves you? This response… Read More
WordFest 2009
I presented at the Capital Area Writing Project’s WordFest tonight. Just thought I’d share my presentation in this forum as well. SESSION NAME: Well-Chosen Words About Slices of Real Life BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Help… Read More
Personification, An Effective Ending, & More
A copy of Laurie Halse Anderon‘s The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School arrived at my home last week. I read it once and put it aside since I was unsure of… Read More
Write What Matters Most.
It’s getting late. I’m tired. A blog post is required before I go to bed. Although I have a list of possibilities, I don’t have the energy for them. Not tonight. Tonight I simply… Read More
Today’s SOLSC Coincides with The National Day on Writing
Our weekly Slice of Life Story Challenge coincides with The National Day on Writing today. Celebrate this special day by doing one, or more, of the following things as a writer: 1) Craft… Read More
Peter Johnston + Agency
These words of Peter Johnston’s from his book Choice Words (2004) have been tumbling around in my mind this weekend. I plan to keep them close as I go about my work this week.… Read More
The Case for Record-Keeping
Ruth and I are putting the finishing touches on the Conferring Section of our book just as I’m starting to work on presentations for two separate school districts about conferring in the Writing… Read More
A New Source for Finding Mentor Texts
I’m not recommending a children’s book you can use in your classroom today. Instead, I have something better. It’s a professional book about children’s books that every writing teacher needs to have improve… Read More
Here’s to Writing Workshop!
Today Tony Miller and his third grade class invited me to celebrate with them the publication of their first pieces. (Although we considered this the launch unit, it was actually the third unit… Read More
Do You Ever Wonder If Kids Have Time to Wonder Anymore?
This past summer Pam Munoz Ryan, author of two of my favorite read aloud books (i.e., Becoming Naomi Leon and Esperanza Rising) spoke at the TCRWP Writing Institute. Her speech, “Reading to Write,… Read More
Anecdotal Writing = Slice of Life Writing
I’m presently working on a PowerPoint Presentation for an interactive workshop I’m leading at next Thursday’s WordFest 2009: A Celebration of Writing, which is sponsored by the Capital Area Writing Project. My workshop… Read More
A Peek Into My Notebook
In this (too-long) video, I share a peek into my notebook. I’m not sure what happened, though, because when I prepared it for the Internet, the final letter was dropped from many of… Read More
